Bereavement means to be deprived of someone by death. The death of someone you love is one of the greatest losses that can occur. However, feelings of bereavement can also accompany other losses, such as the loss of your health or the health of someone you care about—or the end of an important relationship, through divorce, for example. Grief is a normal, healthy response to loss.

Death and Dying ↓

Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying. The primary course of action when death is near is to fulfill the dying person's wishes. If the person is dying from an illness, ideally, they will have participated in decisions about how to live and die. If the requests made do not seem practical to the caregiver, options should be raised with the dying individual to try to accommodate his request and still provide adequate care. If the dying individual has not been able to participate in formulating final plans, you should strive to do what this person would want. If the individual is in a hospice, he may most likely desire a natural death. In this situation, the aim will be for the final days and moments of life to be guided toward maintaining comfort and reaching a natural death.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) ↓

PTSD affects about 7.7 million American adults in a given year, though the disorder can develop at any age including childhood. Symptoms include strong and unwanted memories of the event, bad dreams, emotional numbness, intense guilt or worry, andry outbursts, feeling 'on edge," and avoiding thoughts and situations that are reminders of the trauma.